The proposed meeting entitled "NUCLEIC ACID ENZYMES: STRUCTURES, MECHANISMS AND NOVEL APPLICATIONS" will focus on the structures, mechanisms, biological roles, and medical relevance of enzymes that act on DNA and RNA. The meeting aims to attract a broad cross-disciplinary group of scientists with expertise in structural biology, biochemistry, and cell biology. The meeting provides a unique forum for discussing the explosion of information on new enzymes that act on nucleic acids, the central role of DNA and RNA enzymology in biotechnology, and the growing list of human metabolic disorders and disease in which nucleic acid enzymes are implicated. By bringing together structural biologists, biochemists, cell biologists and clinicians to discuss common interests, new insights and interdisciplinary collaboration will be fostered. The Scientific Program will consist of nine sessions of oral presentations by distinguished invited speakers in the following subject areas: (1) DNA repair enzymes; (2) DNA and RNA polymerases; (3) Recombination and genetic rearrangements (4) DNA and RNA modification enzymes; (5) Helicases and nucleic acid-dependent NTPases; (6) RNA and RNA catalysts (7) Cleavage and degradative enzymes (8) New techniques and bioinformatics (9) Diseases related to nucleic acids enzymology. The organizers have recruited leading investigators to serve as Discussion leaders for these sessions. The Program will also include daily poster sessions. All attendees will be encouraged to present posters on their research. To encourage career development of junior scientists, six outstanding posters from the ranks of graduate students and post-doc attendees will be selected for short oral presentations. The FASEB 2002 meeting aims to highlight several emerging themes in nucleic acids enzymology including the dynamic rearrangement and modification of DNA and RNA by novel enzymes, the parallels between enzymes involved in DNA metabolism and those of the RNA world, and the burgeoning impact that nucleic acid enzymes are having on biotechnology and medicine. The intimate format of the conference is designed to promote free exchange of information and ideas among researchers who work on diverse aspects of RNA and DNA enzymes- thereby expediting research in both fields.